The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display apparatus, and, more particularly, the invention relates to a liquid crystal display apparatus employing a lateral electric field method which is driven by applying an electric field in a direction nearly parallel to the substrate surface.
In prior art liquid crystal display apparatuses, the electrodes which are used for driving a liquid crystal layer are transparent electrodes disposed opposite to each other and respectively formed on two substrates. This structure comes from employing a display method typified by a twisted nematic display method in which the direction of the electric field applied to the liquid crystal is orientated in a direction nearly normal to the substrate surface. On the other hand, a method of employing comb-shaped electrodes, in which the direction of the electric field applied to the liquid crystal is orientated in a direction nearly parallel to the substrate surface, is proposed, for example, in Japanese Patent Publication No. 63-21907, U.S. Pat. No. 4,345,249, WO 91/10936, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-222397 or Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-160878. In this case, the electrodes do not need to be transparent, and so highly-conductive, opaque metal electrodes are employed. In regard to the above-mentioned prior art display method in which the direction of the electric field applied to the liquid crystal is orientated in a direction nearly parallel to the substrate surface (hereinafter, referred to as the "lateral electric field method"), a method of reducing unevenness in the display, such as domain on the electrode edge existing from the initial stage of use, has been proposed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-159786, but there is no description therein concerning the elimination of unevenness in the display, which is seen as black spots produced during long-term use, or concerning the structure necessary for improving the productivity of the apparatus.